UCL| Arsenal vs Marseille | Tue Nov 1st | 19:45

[kofigunner]

I would be leery of having Shava and Santos play together on the left. Santos isn't the quickest and Shava covers like ..Shava

 

[mo50]

I think Wenger might make a couple of changes but not too many. I'd finally love to see the Koscielny - Vermaelen partnership but it seems like Koscielny can get a rest and Mestersacker will play instead. Not sure about Arteta, he has played every minute of every game since he came so maybe I'd rest him as well. Up front I'd play Arshavin for Walcott even though the later had a good game on Saturday and Park will get his minutes too. What I'd like to see:

                Sczsesny

Jenkinson  Koscielny  Vermaelen  Santos

                  Song

         Ramsey         Rosicky

Gervinho          RvP         Arshavin

The bench of Mertersacker, Arteta, Walcott, Park and Frimpong doesn't look bad either.

From the pictures up on Arsenal.com, you could usually tell who will start and who won't based on the colour of the top they wear. Using my highly trustable method, it looks like Arteta won't start. He needs a rest anyways. I'd go with your lineup, but I'd play Park instead of Van Persie. We need to keep this man fit and fresh.

 

[TomasCR]

To be honest Areta's different shirt made me think he could be benched but I tried to made it look like it was my idea in the first place.

Park for RvP is a good shout, at the end of the day RvP can come on and save the day anytime during the game, heh.

 

[Beksl]

Arsenal train ahead of Marseille tie

You can really see the place is buzzing.

Awesome pics. This one really made me laugh. Arsh, alongside Per, looks like a frightened kid from the bloc.

 

[Floating]

Wow at Ramsey's new tattoo.

He's had that for a while mate. Since last year, I believe.

 

[jerome2158]

Arshavin looks like a child in that picture!


I'm a bit more cautious about this match, as OM haven't been playing too badly since we visited them. I don't doubt that we should win it, but I don't think it's going to be an easy match. We made those assumptions last year and look what happened...

I also expect the Emirates to be rockin'........with the sounds of Marseille. We don't have a chance of outsinging them. Anyone remember what the bridge looked like last year when they came? Might as well have been the Velodrome.

 

[fabo]

We'll win no problem. Marseille are average, weak defence and some dangerous attackers who are pretty wasteful.

2 or 3-1.

Hopefully no pissing about with team selections, we need to go all out to win this one.

 

[fabo]

Ramsey's tattoo is hideous tbh, as are tattoos in general if you ask me. What's the bloody point? Stupid.

 

[Beksl]

Probably something to do with his broken leg? I would think it means a lot to him..

 

[mistaT]

I think Rosicky for Arteta is a good shout, but if we wrap this game up I'd like to see someone (Benayoun) on for Ramsey as well. Both Arteta and Ramsey are playing a lot and covering some serious ground.

Arshavin to start for one of Gervinho or Walcott - I'd prefer the latter but could see either being rested. Chamberlain on around 60 as well to keep our wide legs rested and to get him some time.

Santos in my opinion needs to be rested, so while its odd I'd start Vermalean there and keep the Kos/Per CB pairing for now.

Djourou at RB I guess, unless Jenkinson is fit.

Get the win and let's wrap up the Group Stages right and early.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

Excuse me, but if I look at the above picture I notice something else too, apart from Merte's height.

Both him and Arsh, are looking as if a gorgeous woman was running down the pitch.....and you can see 'the consequences' of that right.....at Merte.

If you get what I'm hinting at.

 

[Segway]

Marseille have nearly no attacking endeavor, particularly away from home. I'd start with Park who showed enough promise against Bolton to warrant playing time, and if we still haven't decided the game by the 65th minute, let Robin do his thing.

Serious overrating of OM on here. That team should be able to deal with them well enough at home. Maybe switch Arshavin and Benny around if the later will provide more penetration.

2-1 Arsenal.

You think we overrate Marseille yet you can only see us getting a scrappy 2-1 win? I think if we get too comfortable in possession they have the players to hurt us in Ayew, Valbuena and Remy. Do you think they'll park the bus against us though?

 

[TomasCR]

Excuse me, but if I look at the above picture I notice something else too, apart from Merte's height.

Both him and Arsh, are looking as if a gorgeous woman was running down the pitch.....and you can see 'the consequences' of that right.....at Merte.

If you get what I'm hinting at.

Now now, I'll reply while knowing there is a huge chance that someone can accuse me of being, well, weird to say that nicely, I've got to say that I've played football for some years now and this is pretty normal when you have no pants under your shorts. So no, there was no hot girl running down there.

 

[redwhiteAustrian]

I get what you mean.

Don't think there's anything weird in saying that, but the hot girl might've been a more elegant explanation.

 

[mo50]

He's definitely looking at Van Persie. I knew I wasn't the only one who gets hard at the sight of him.

 

[Spork]

Arsenal.com's updates from the Wenger/Ramsey press conference:

Wenger on RVP: 'He's a perfect captain not just because he scores goals but because he behaves himself on and off the field'
57 minutes ago

[/quote]

I'm not saying that it is necessarily a bad thing, but Robin doesn't always behave on the pitch, in fact, I would say he is one of the main players in our side who are likely to cause trouble?

 

[Bossa]

Wow at Ramsey's new tattoo.

He's had that for a while mate. Since last year, I believe.

Nope,

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2055698/Aaron-Ramsey-tattoo-Arsenal-midfielder-reveals-leg-artwork.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... twork.html</a>

 

[raidersoftheark]

You think we overrate Marseille yet you can only see us getting a scrappy 2-1 win? I think if we get too comfortable in possession they have the players to hurt us in Ayew, Valbuena and Remy. Do you think they'll park the bus against us though?

Well I was going to say we'll beat them 2-0 with essentially a Carling Cup/FA Cup side yes, but we'll probably gift them a goal somehow, so 2-1.

Ayew and Remy (despite a reasonable amount of goals for the latter) have been quite poor this season, as have Marseille been in general - they found themselves in the relegation zone until as recently as our game against them and only now are they managing results. Valbuena has never been anything other than mediocre, as well. They parked the bus at home, don't see why they wouldn't at our ground. They'll try to scrape a result here off a set piece, and genuinely try to win 1 match against Olympiakos/Dortmund to more or less guarantee the second spot.

West Brom will be a harder game. Much more important to win that one too.

Loving the Breaking Bad avatar. Go Heisenberg!

 

[clockwork orange]

Strongest possible line-up for me. We've got to maintain momentum: keep on winning.

 

[TomasCR]

Will there be any international friendlies after the WBA game or it's just for the teams who take part in the the play-offs? 14 days is a long time, if most of the players were to get rest after another PL game, there is no need to rest anyone tonight.

Anyway we'll win even if Wenger makes a couple of changes, the difference among the bench players and the ones from the first 11 isn't that huge, RvP taking aside.